February 1, 2019
Today our regatta ended. We had three races and finished 17thoverall. Its not the result that we would have liked, but we came into this regatta with some goals and we came away accomplishing them.
We hit the water this morning just after 8:30, and as we got to the race course, the wind started to die, and then it left us for a long time. We moved three times around the bay to find more wind, and eventually found our spot for some racing. Around 2pm, we started racing and the race committee cranked out three fast races in 6-8 kts of breeze.
Race one of today started great. We had a really good start and headed to the left side of the course which was where we wanted to go. There was a little bit of current pushing that way too, and when the inside boats finally tacked we were already on lay line. By the time we all got to the top of mark, we were pinned above lay line and had to find our spot to get back down around the mark. At one point we were sailing downwind…not a good luck. As it turned out, we were black flagged in the race so our score ended up being our previous drop race (a 24th).
After a very short break, we started race 2. Our start wasn’t super great, but we found our lane. The whole race we were climbing through the fleet to finish the race in 17th.
The final race was our best race of the day. We had a great start and were able to execute our plan up the first beat. We didn’t quite make it to the port lay line coming into the top mark, and lost a boat or two on that, but rounded in a decent position around 10th. From there, we gained a few and lost a few boats around the course, ending in a 14thoverall at the finish.
Our overall goals coming into the regatta were to have boat handling that was up to par or better and to feel really comfortable on the start line and execute good starts. We haven’t done much work on speed or racing yet this far in our program so we were very happy with where our speed was and how it developed during the event. We also started to get better and better with our calls on the race course, and the more we do it the more comfortable we will be with them again, and the better the overall results will be.
It is a bit hard feeling good about accomplishing our goals for the event with the result that we got. We are both very competitive, so its understandable that we aren’t happy with the results placing. However, we are trying to look at the big picture and put it all in to prospective. We are continuously showing improvement and the results of the regatta don’t necessarily show that. It wasn’t just us having a hard time in races and the scores for most teams had some deep races too. But I don’t want to make excuses for us and the fact is that we still have a lot of work to do, but we are on track with our plan and that is exciting to see how far we will keep going for the next event.
Our next event is at the end of March in Palma, Spain. It will be the second and final qualifier for the Pan-American Games and the Pre-Olympics , both later this year. Currently we are sitting in second place and after tomorrows medal race we will know how many points we are behind our fellow American’s, Steph Roble and Maggie Shea, who are still racing. Between now and then we have our plan laid out with our coach Willie. We are taking this coming week off and then are back on the water a week on Monday.
Thank you all for the kind and encouraging notes during the event and for all of your continued support.
Anna and Paris
Henken | Tobias Sailing 